

This will come in handy most against higher-health enemies, but it’s worth having in general, as you should be using Shok as often as you can anyways. This skill is immensely useful in the early hours of the game when your weapons are weaker and your ammo reserves are low, as it increases the damage enemies take when they’re electrified. Resistor Malfunction can also be found in the Shok skill tree.

The fact that it improves how much damage Shok deals is just icing on the cake. This is also great for general crowd control, so make sure to push away enemies you’re not otherwise actively attacking so that you can focus on your target better. You’ll get the Shok ability very early in the game, and grabbing this upgrade can help you deal with aggressive robots by allowing you to push them back a bit, giving you some extra room to breathe and reposition when needed. Power Amplifier can be found in the Shok skill tree. Even with the upgrades, though, you’ll still need to be mindful of whether what you’re currently holding is truly valuable or not. Since all of your healing and energy restoration items are held here alongside any weapons you’re carrying at the time, your inventory can fill up rapidly without these upgrades. You’ll want to pick them both up as soon as you reasonably can, as inventory management can play a major part in your success in Atomic Heart – even more so at higher difficulties.

There are two Neuro-Compression Tactical Backpack skills in the Character skill tree. Having that extra movement speed is especially helpful when you find yourself surrounded and need to reposition, which may happen more often than you’d think – Atomic Heart loves to throw relentless packs of enemies at you frequently. As such, you’ll find that investing in Morning Exercise can make a big difference in how quickly you can move around levels. Atomic Heart is unique in that it doesn’t provide a sprint to you, so your movement speed is pretty much the same throughout the game regardless of the situation. Morning Exercise can be found in the Character skill tree.
